Counterpoint, Sergi Aguilar
By Charlotte Stace
Counterpoint, an exhibition by Sergi Aguilar at La Virreina, presents a selection of the artist’s photographs and audiovisual works. The Barcelona-born artist known for his fusion of sculpture and photography since the 1970s, explores themes such as spatial emptiness, architectural minimalism, and the tension between appearance and presence.
“Counterpoint” takes its title from Don DeLillo’s book of the same name, which was published in the now defunct Grand Street magazine in 2004. The essay investigates three films: Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1988); Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993) and Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001), as well as Thomas Bernhard’s novel The Loser (1983) and an old photograph by Robert Parent showing Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus and Roy Haynes performing in New York in 1953.
The exhibition traces Aguilar’s evolution while encouraging viewers to rethink how art is encountered. By disrupting standard hierarchies, it opens new perspectives on both contemporary art and its exhibition formats.